He used this is a prompt to examine his own WHY of teaching and to start a blog challenge. Here’s what he said:

Thus, welcome a series of ‘What’s your WHY?’ guest blogs from dear ELT colleagues from around the world, detailing their WHY-HOW-WHAT. You can read my own thoughts here, which I read semi-regularly and edit to make sure my ship is still pointing where I want it to go. Everyone’s will be different; it’s always interesting to get perspectives from other educators, and you might even be able to borrow an idea or two. Sharing is caring, so let me know if you’d like to contribute too.

Comments on: "What’s your WHY? (blogging challenge)" (7)

So many of the things I would say have been covered by Sandy’s excellent comments and thoughts on this subject. Here are mine which relate to business English which is the field I work in now.

Why?
My learners need to communicate with other speakers of English (both first- and second-language speakers) to do their jobs. My goal is to enable them to do this with as little stress as possible, encourage them to look forward to these encounters and to support them through the process of making it easier to get their message across.

How?
We discuss relevant topics to the learners, talk about their jobs (to the extent that we can without breaking any confidentiality rules) and rehash situations in which they needed English and how the conversations went. We build on their self-confidence over and over. I correspond with them outside class when there is a question and this is always in English. The class I have has become an ongoing team-building opportunity as well as an English lesson.

What?
We sometimes translate policies or information they will need for a discussion. We choose topics and I let them speak with each other and give them notes afterwards. We find specific points about their job or the company or companies in general to debate. We work on vocabulary and grammar as it comes up in class. We find ways to laugh together and maintain rapport throughout. I send them interesting videos or other information I find which is relevant to their jobs.

Hi Zhenya,
Thanks for the link. I don’t think I’d seen that post of yours before, but reading it now it strikes me that you are meeting a lot of those 25 aims/goals/points (?) I’d be interested to read the follow-up!
Happy New Year,
Sandy

Why: Not only do my learners need English to communicate, they also need English to pass exams (IELTS/TOEFL and school exams) so that they can go onto higher education, or in some cases be able to move to another country.

How: Finding, or in some cases creating learning materials needed to help meet the learners needs. Also encouraging the students to be independent learner by getting them to make use of resources outside of the classroom, such as visiting websites the British Council’s Learn English page.

What: Track learners progress, for example for speaking I recond my learner at each class and every couple of weeks we review the recording so that the learners can hear how they have incorporated the teaching points that we have in class in their speaking. That certainly helps boost their confidence. Like you and the others have mentioned, I will try new ideas in my lessons. Talk to colleagues and share ideas. Observe other teachers and review ideas from different ELT web-sites.

Hello Les. I was wondering if you’d mind me reposting your words in the series on my blog site? I think it’s really important that educators consider their core motivations and then act them out in a meaningful way for students to get the best possible education, and also see their teacher as a put-together person they can use as a model. I hope your words will help more teachers consider their WHY 🙂 Thank you. https://jamesegerton.wordpress.com/category/whats-your-why/
Please email me if you don’t mind me reposting:jamesegerton89@gmail.com
Cheers!

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#eltpics is a collection of photos, based on a weekly theme, taken by ELT teachers, trainers and writers from around the world.
These are, in turn, available free to others in the field of ELT under a CC license to use in their classroom and on their non-commercial materials.
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